August was a great month filled with sun and hot weather and it made it possible to salvage some crops in the worst gardening year of my seven so far in Maine. Now, as September begins with cooler days and cooler nights I hope for no frost before late October to enable the veggies growing ever so slowly to reach maturity. My cucumbers are a total bust and I don't expect to harvest ANY. The same goes for winter squash and melons it would appear. The few, tiny ears of corn won't even be enough for the raccoons let alone leaving some for me to enjoy. I have only picked a few tomatoes so far and of very poor quality. There are many green ones on the vines but who knows if enough decent ones will lead to my usual many batches of salsa let along tomato sauce. I usually only can jars of veggies and jams from crops I have harvested here and not from purchased ones, but this year may be the exception. I probably could take a year off from pickle making as I do have several 2008 jars remaining but life would not be the same without many jars of salsa on the shelf! The good news is that many of the rest of the salsa ingredients like the hot peppers and cilantro are doing just fine in the garden.
I continue to enjoy an abundance of green and yellow beans, turnips, beets, carrots, lettuce, zucchini and yellow summer squash. Soon I will be picking some cabbage, eggplant and more cauliflower and broccoli. Hence I really cannot complain too loudly about the harvest in 2009. The life of a gardener/farmer always has its disappointments along with the joys. I must say that many flowers continue to add beauty to the gardens here as some of the photos show. The black-eyed Susan's are big and amazing this year and spreading all over the place. It is hard to imagine that the hydrangeas were tiny little plants just four years ago when purchased. The pond now sports many floating plants as well and continues to be a focal point of admiration for the many visitors I have had of late. Life is good ... even without cucumbers!
There's always next year! I just cut a bunch of Anabelle hydrangea like in your photo today. They dry beautifully and retain that greenish yellow color. If we can't pick cukes we can pick flowers! -Cathleen.
ReplyDelete